Wikidata:WikiProject The Commemorative Association of the National Debt Redemption Movement (NDRM)

Aim and Scope edit

This WikiProject is for work done at The Commemorative Association of the National Debt Redemption Movement (Q115000952) to connect local archive data with world data using Wikidata. The Association established National Debt Redemption Movement Digital Archive (Q115296901) to preserve and use the Archives of the National Debt Redemption Movement (Q122720114) registered as UNESCO Memory of the World in 2017. The main objects created as Wikidata items are people who participated in the National Debt Redemption Movement (NDRM), related organizations, events, and records. The project was started in August 2022 and is ongoing.

The Archives of the National Debt Redemption Movement [1] edit

There are 2,475 items in the National Debt Repayment Movement (Q623859) collection, which the National Debt Redemption Movement Memorial Association has applied to have registered in the UNESCO (Q7809) Memory of the World (Q473858). This collection is composed of four types of collections: handwritten records on the origination and development of the National Debt Redemption Movement, handwritten records on the expansion and spread of the National Debt Redemption Movement, records on the National Debt Redemption Movement by the Japanese government (Japanese Residency-General of Korea (Q711450) and Governor-General of Chōsen (Q483997)), and the press records of newspapers and magazines that reported on the National Debt Redemption Movement state of affairs.

There are 12 handwritten records on the origination and development of the National Debt Redemption Movement. These include the opening speech and prospectus, which explain the aim and goal of the Movement, and were drafted to urge people to join the National Debt Redemption Movement. The opening speech and prospectus are recorded on Korean paper in Chinese characters or in a style incorporating both Hangul(Korean characters) and Chinese characters. The contents of these records are generally directed towards “resolving the national crisis by repaying a national debt of 13 million won via a donation movement, such as stopping smoking, in one’s duty as a citizen.”

There are 77 handwritten records on the expansion and spread of the National Debt Redemption Movement, which include inter-regional and intra-regional circular letters between the main agents of the Movement, regulations on the operation of National Debt Redemption Center, letters between individuals and groups, lists of donors by region, which show who participated and how much each donated, and the receipts for donations. These records reflect the detailed process in which the National Debt Redemption Movement expanded and spread across the nation. There are 122 records compiled by the Japanese government on the National Debt Redemption Movement, including reports received by the Residency-General and the Japanese Governor-General of Korea from related institutions on the state of the National Debt Redemption Movement, as well as government directives on the matter. Through these records, Japanese attempts to sabotage the National Debt Redemption Movement can be identified.

There are 2,264 press records, including items related to the National Debt Redemption Movement in seven newspapers, such as the Daehan Maeil Shinboand Hwangsung Shinmun, and three magazines, such as Daehan Jaganghwe Wolbo(Monthly Journal of the Korean Self-Strengthening Scciety), all of which were published domestically and overseas in the early 1900s. The press materials report the substance of the opening speech and prospectus, which urge people to participate in the National Debt Redemption Movement, editorials and advertisements, articles on regional or personal circumstances around the National Debt Redemption Movement process, articles on events that occurred in the process of fundraising, and records that identify participants and the amounts they donated.

Significance of the Collection [2] edit

The National Debt Redemption Movement was a movement for peaceful coexistence in which the people voluntarily attempted to resolve the country’s foreign debt in response to the invasion on economic sovereignty through imperialist foreign debt. Peace, as defined in the National Debt Redemption Movement, is similar in character to that in Gandhi’s non-violent Ahimsa (non-violence)-Swadeshi (use of domestic products) movement, which occurred at a similar time. However, the National Debt Redemption Movement wanted a more active peace, which, in contrast to passive non-violence through boycotting, strived for mutual and reciprocal coexistence by overcoming invasion by donating to the repayment of the foreign debt. The National Debt Redemption Movement records, which bear the spirit and significance of the Movement, reflect the development of a national sense of duty and peace in the context of the formation of modern East Asia, and are historical materials with invaluable significance to world history.

Time edit

The National Debt Redemption Movement took place at the beginning of 20th century, when imperialist powers competed for colonial management. The National Debt Redemption Movement collection offers a detailed account of the clash between the invasion of an imperialist power and the peaceful resistance of a colonized nation. In 1997, 90 years after the Movement began, it was revived in the form of the “Gold Collection Movement” during the financial crisis. Korea’s Gold Collection Movement garners attention whenever South America, the United States, or Europe undergoes a foreign exchange crisis. As such, the National Debt Redemption Movement collection provide data that can be re-interpreted retroactively when discussing solutions to the debt crisis the world economy currently faces.

Place edit

The National Debt Redemption Movement originated in Daegu in February 1907, subsequently spreading across the country. Around 318 gun-districts appear to have participated in the movement across the country, with three Redemption Centers located in Gangwon-Province, 15 in Gyeongsang-Province, five in Gyeonggi-Province, 11 in Chungcheong-Province, 17 in Jeolla-Province, eight in Hwanghae-Province, nine in Hamgyeong-Province, and 15 in Pyeongan-Province, counting only those listed in newspapers. There were an estimated 400,000 participants, or 20%~25% of all households, when calculated as participation per household. the National Debt Redemption Movement collection including the prospectus and opening statement, books recording the donation amounts and lists of participants by region, and press reports is a testament to the domestic and overseas expansion of this movement over a short period.

People edit

While those who initially led the National Debt Redemption Movement were the intellectuals and businessmen of the time, as the news spread, people began taking the initiative by donating through comitias (the commoners’ autonomous bodies) or the local community. Moreover, while there were still traces of the feudal caste system in society, this movement was indeed pan-national. This can be seen in the opening statement and prospectus of the National Debt Redemption Movement, which claimed that “there is no gender, age, or birth in patriotism.” the National Debt Redemption Movement collection reports that commoners, merchants, peasants, and women, who can be considered the subjugated class at the time of 1907, actively participated in the National Debt Redemption Movement. These records are an in-depth depiction of the process in which social classes emerge, as differences in social rank were overcome in Korea’s transition to modernity in a manner vastly different from that of the West.

Subject edit

The National Debt Redemption Movement proposes a new model for financial order as a solution to the problems of debt and foreign loans that trouble the 21st century world economy. In the sense that the people repaid the foreign debt owed to Japan, the National Debt Redemption Movement is a movement in which the debtor fulfills his or her obligations. Through this, the National Debt Redemption Movement also presents the responsibility of creditors who lend odious debt through “incitement and enticement.” Because the National Debt Redemption Movement presents the responsibility of both the creditor and the debtor, it overcomes the limitation of the responsibility theory, which holds the debtor solely responsible. This theory was presented in the 1997 East Asian Foreign Exchange Crisis, as well as in various subsequent financial crises. Considering that the world agrees that the recent Greek financial crisis cannot be fundamentally resolved unless responsibilities are attributed to both the creditor and debtor, the critical approach proposed by the National Debt Redemption Movement can still be considered viable, in the modern sense. Therefore, the National Debt Redemption Movement records form an important historical account in the discussion on establishing a new international financial order in the 21st century, and must be subject to continuous retrospection and re-interpretation.

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